sub with five people onboard after it vanished on a deep sea dive to the titanic. tonight only about 12 hours of air remaining. we'll have late details in a moment. the dangerous historic heat wave in texas. 26 million under heat alert as temperatures soar above 100 all-time records shattered. when will it end the january 6th rioter who tased a police officer sentenced to more than 12 years in prison a special counsel defends his conclusion that the fbi acted improperly in opening the trump-russia investigation. democrats accusing him of running political interference for the former president chinese spies targeting american companies to steal cutting edge technology a cnbc investigation the nation's report card showing a stunning drop in test scores in math and reading. the pandemic's devastating impacts on education. the government sues amazon claiming it duped users into

signing up for prime and how people in a small town fought back and put on a show with pride >> announcer: this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt good evening and welcome. let's get right to the search for that missing sub and those noises picked up by canadian sound buoys could it be a sign of life from the five people aboard that ill-fated titanic expedition the coast guard calling the noises inconclusive as navy experts analyze the data as for the amount of time potential survivors may have, officials calculate breathable air will run out around 7:00 a.m. eastern time tomorrow that's assuming the sub known as titan is still intact tonight more rescue ships have gathered in the search zone including some carrying remotely operated vehicles of capable of exploring extreme depths the life and death drama unfolding hundreds of miles from nearest land has captivated people across the world

as we learn more about warnings previously raised about the safety of the tiny vessel but for now responders are laser focused on what they say remains a search and rescue operation. tom costello was at the search command center with the very latest >> reporter: 900 miles east of massachusetts canadian aircrews continue to drop sonar buoys and report hearing unusual noise in the water both yesterday and today. planes, ships, and drones are now aggressively searching a grid near the sunken titanic, but so far nothing. the navy now reviewing all sonar contacts can you describe what the noise sounds like that they're hearing >> the noises have been described as banging noises, but, again, they have to put the whole picture together in context, and they have to eliminate potential man made sources other than the titan >> reporter: underwater acoustics experts caution the ocean is noisy heavy ship traffic, even fish and whales can sound like

tapping. but the noise also means hope that the five men onboard the sub are still alive trying to communicate. >> i don't think i'll be able to sleep unless we get some positive news. >> reporter: in pakistan mohamed is a friend of businessman shahzada dawood who's onboard with his son suleman. >> i'm just watching tv for the last 48 hours and keeping my fingers crossed and still have a hope he will come back and allah will make some miracle happen and he will make it >> reporter: the titan sub is about the size of a minivan with room for five and a toilet with a privacy curtain. this ocean gate photo shows it's relatively cramped. only one person can fully extend his legs at a time. crews generally have sandwiches and water for a 6 to 8-hour trip aaron newman is an ocean gate investor who's gone to the titanic in titan >> we're going where humans have rarely gone so we're pushing

the limits of things and so, you know, it's not -- it's not a disney world ride. >> reporter: but a former employee mutually settled a lawsuit with ocean gate after being fired for claiming the sub wasn't certified to go so deep, and three dozen submersible experts expressed concern that the design was potentially catastrophic today discovery channel host josh gates tweeted, ultimately i walked away from a huge opportunity to film titanic due to my safety concerns with the ocean gate platform meanwhile, a french deep dive robot and its operators are arriving on site now nbc's ron allen is in st. john's newfoundland >> it's calm in the harbor but reports of extremely challenging weather conditions at the site winds gusting 30 miles per hour, ocean swells of 6 to 7 feet >> it's a search and rescue mission 100%. we're smack-dab in the middle of search and rescue, and we'll continue to put every available asset we have in an effort to find the titan and the crew members

>> and tom joining me now. tom, the coast guard has really laid out a time line of what we're up against >> reporter: yeah, that's absolutely right. in fact, they're laying out the time line here as the fact we may see this crew lose oxygen some time after 7:00 a.m. meanwhile more ships are rushing into the search zone. canadian, u.s., and french, and the canadians have a hyperbaric chamber onboard one of those ships, lester, to help in the event somebody needs a decompression chamber. >> all right, tom costello, thank you. and joining us now is oceanographer and deep sea explorer david gallo. mr. gallo, with reference to these noises that have been heard, are there protocols in the deep diving community for signaling for help or distress >> not really, no. none that i've seen that have been formal. it's just something that people in the know would do. it's something like paul henri nargeolet who is supposedly on that submarine would

do something like that because he knows we'd be listening for something like that. but there's no set protocols. >> we've been referring to this amount of breathable air onboard. are there ways passengers might be able to extend or conserve their air supply >> well, my guess is that if paul henri is -- he would have them sleeping as best they could under these circumstances, being as little active as possible is the best way. it's very cold, should be really cold at this point. and i'm assuming that would keep the oxygen intake low i could be wrong about that certainly you don't want to expend it by being overly active, but i don't know how you could do that in a submarine. >> if in fact the shell of the sub was breached or imploded, will searchers be able to find any evidence of its destruction >> hard to say, lester my guess and i thought about this a lot is it going to be crumbled little bits or big chunks here and there. and my guess is there will be something of size that can be

looked at forensically >> i know it's a very grim topic, but david gallo, thank you for coming on with us tonight. >> my pleasure let's turn to that massive heat wave baking the southern plains with dangerous triple digit temperatures as a heat dome over texas causes temperatures to soar miguel almaguer in houston for us tonight. miguel, good evening >> reporter: lester, good evening unbearable, miserable, and brutal only begin to describe the conditions here. this region has been cooking for a week, and now the national weather service says there's no end in sight to this oppressive heat. tonight a blistering record breaking heat wave is scorching 26 million across much of the southern plains. the potentially deadly conditions pushing temperatures as much as 15 degrees above normal >> literally we're having to sit in the cold baths just to cool ourselves down. >> reporter: the extraordinary heat and intense humidity turning texas into a red hot oven with skyrocketing

conditions between 110 and 120 degrees. in san antonio tuesday the heat index soared to an alarming 116, topping an all-time record the city set just five days ago dallas tied its 43-year-old record at 117. today in houston it's forecasted to feel like a scorching 112 with little relief overnight, emergency crews are bracing for a surge of 911 calls >> make sure that you don't leave your child in a car in this type of weather they won't have long >> reporter: the unrelenting temperatures straining the power grid as the state set a june record for energy demand the historic heat buckling roads from the lone star state to louisiana. tonight some are wishing this first day of summer was also the last miguel almaguer, nbc news, houston. in washington a january 6th rioter who attacked a police officer with a stun gun was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in

prison the judge called daniel rodriguez a one-man army of hate for attacking police officers and destroying property. he pleaded guilty to a variety of charges related to the attack. and on capitol hill a former special counsel investigating the fbi's russia probe against then-candidate donald trump telling lawmakers his findings included sobering missteps by the fbi. garrett haake now with that story >> reporter: special counsel john durham facing a five-hour grilling, defending his explosive conclusion that the fbi acted improperly in its opening of the 2016 trump-russia probe. >> we found troubling violations of law and policy >> reporter: mr. durham arguing the available evidence did not support opening the full investigation known as cross fire hurricane. >> the fbi opened up cross fire hurricane without speaking to the people who provided the initial information. is that true >> that's correct. >> was there adequate predication for the

fbi to open cross fire hurricane as a full investigation? >> on july 31st in my view based on our investigation there was not a legitimate basis to open a full investigation. >> reporter: and durham saying he found anti-trump sentiment among the fbi brass who launched the investigation. >> there were some individuals who clearly expressed personal bias. >> reporter: the mueller report ultimately found no conspiracy between the trump campaign and russia but resulted in 34 people criminally charged. democrats noting durham's four-year investigation produced only three criminal cases including two acquittals and accusing the bill barr appointee of running political interference for former president trump. >> mr. durham, your report reads like a defense of the trump campaign and an attack on hillary clinton because that's exactly what it is >> reporter: a doj inspector general report says the opening of the russia investigation was justified, and the fbi says they've instituted dozens of reforms since. lester all right, garrett, thanks tonight a new

flash point between the u.s. and china after president biden called china's president xi a dictator at a fund-raising event china blasting the comments as absurd and irresponsible. tensions rising even after secretary of state blinken's meeting with xi. and one of the biggest disputes is over espionage including chinese spies targeting corporate america. it's the focus of a new cnbc documentary here's eamon javers. >> reporter: the story begins in 2017 with a simple message on linkedin a ge aviation engineer named david zheng working on the company's newest jet engine opened a message from a university official in china. >> welell, it was s an invitatation to cocome speaeak at a uniniversity about hihis subject t matter >> s so that's prprestigious.s. > i think h he was flattered.d. they w were willining to fund the trip. >> reporter: during the trip zheng was introduced to a man whwho said he e was part of a localal science a and technolology associciation. >> t the alias he useses

is chu wei but it is xuxu yanjun whwho works state ministry of security >> reporter: he is a spy. itit was discocovered the e engigineer took k sesensitive mamaterial to o china, so o sensitive e that y you need a a licecense to takake it out of the couountry executivives summonened the enengineer to o a meeteting at ge headquarters. >> he eventually met with the ge security inindividuals s and they then stepppped out of f the room and the fbi came i in. >> reporteter: the engineneer agreed d to coopererate with t the fbi whwho used himim to communicate with xu. >> one of the things xu sent to the ge engineerer was a shoppiping list ofof thingsgs he was lolooking for.r. >> reporteter: so thisis is the a actual ask.k. >> he e is asking g for the tytypes of sofoftware programs t they're using. >> repeporter: reaeady to momove in the e fbi had the engineneer set up p a meetining with xu u in brussesels where x xu was ararrested the fbi didirector christstopher wrayay has bebeen warning american indudustry for years ababout the threat from china. what is at stake here do youou think for the u.s. economy >> a american ququality of

life, american innovatition, ultimamately americican nationanal securirity. >> r reporter: e experts sasay technolology from aircraftft manufactuturers is o one of chinina's bibiggest targrgets. >> they know they can manufacture this plane at 30 cents on the dollar and sell it cheaper on the global market it is not justst the theft but what hapappens afteter that the e big damagege is if ththat u.s. cocompany could probobably have e four t to six manunufacturing g plants inin the u.s. . and hire a a hundred d thousand people >> repororter: that t is the hohole in the e u.s. econonomy. > that is t the lolong-term exexistential l threat i is those companies don't get to make plants and hirere people. . >> repeporter: in n a statatement chinina's embassy in washington, d.c. said, the chinese government has never participated in or supporteted anyone i in any foform in steaealing commmmercial sececrets we welcomeme u.s. and d other foforeign compananies to accccess ththe chinese e market, share devevelopment dividendnds, and worork togethther for a stronger world ececonomy. xu's attorney declined cnbc's interview request. so did david zheng, who was fired by ge in eaearly 2018 as foror xu, he wawas coconvicted onon four

counts of f attempted d economomic espionanage and tradade secret t theft eamon javers, nbc news washington. >> watch "china's corporate spy war" tonight at 10:00 eastern on cnbc. in 60 seconds the alarming new report about how our nation's kids are doing in school, plus the crackdown on amazon over prime subscriptions.

there is alarming news about how our nation's kids are doing in school with a new report showing math and reading scores for 13-year-olds at the lowest in decades. as stephanie gosk reports, it is a crisis educators say will have ripple effects for years. >> reporter: across all regions and affecting all kids new test scores show dramatic learning loss the single largest drop in math scores for 13-year-olds since the national assessment of educational progress began 50 years ago down nine points from 2019 before the pandemic to the fall of 2022. reading is not much

better, down four points >> this is a crisis that america cannot ignore the long-term, educational crisis facing our students has by far out paced the physical threat that covid ever presented to them. >> reporter: alberto carvolo is the superintendent for the la unified school district the second largest in the country where they are focusing on summer programs, teacher training, and a longer school year to make up lost ground. >> it needs to be swift, strategic, with the right investments and approaches to teaching kids. >> reporter: this maryland middle school teacher shannon o'connor says many of her students are no longer engaged. >> there still has to be some expectation of responsibility on the student's part for a large chunk of them, that has kind of gone to the way side >> reporter: how difficult is it to get them back on track if you don't have that buy-in

>> it is really hard we try to make it as fun as possible while still keeping to our content and the standards we have to teach. >> reporter: an age group way behind, heading into the critical high school years with a school system still struggling to get them ready. stephanie gosk, nbc news still ahead for us here this evening the new lawsuit against amazon saying it tricked shoppers into paying for prime

regulators are

cracking down on amazon with a new lawsuit alleging the company illegally tricked customers into paying for prime memberships, making them tough to cancel gabe gutierrez has details. >> reporter: amazon prime has more than 200 million customers worldwide, and tonight the federal trade commission says the online retail giant duped people into signing up for the service and then made it extremely tough to cancel >> for any subscription service it shouldn't be difficult to cancel especially for a company like amazon that's making a lot of money from a lot of consumers. >> reporter: the lawsuit against amazon follows a two-year ftc investigation. in it the ftc says amazon used manipulative, coercive or deceptive user interface designs known as dark patterns to trick consumers into enrolling and automatically renewing prime subscriptions. amazon prime customers usually pay $139 a year and get free expedited shipping on millions of items plus other

discounts and access to streaming movies and music. the lawsuit is the most aggressive action against the company so far by the ftc's chair who had been critical against amazon in the past separately amazon had agreed to pay $25 million last month to settle ftc claims that alexa devices had illegally collected children's data. today's lawsuit the latest part of a broader effort by regulators to limit the power of tech companies. >> this is a big signal to the rest of the tech companies that you better clean up your act. make it easier for people to unsubscribe. make sure customers know what they are getting and what they're signing up for. amazon meanwhile says the ftc claims are false. the company says it is clear and simple for customers to sign up for and cancel prime membership and it looks forward to proving its case in court, lester. >> all right, gabe, thanks up next fighting for pride. the small town getting ready to celebrate a big mileststone.

finally, fighting through the fear a triumph for one small town getting ready for their very first pride celebration. >> reporter: in the heart of massachusetts you'll find north brookfield, a rural town with a population just under 5,000 how much do you love this community >> i love this community more than i have words to even tell you >> reporter: sue lyons has called this place home since the '70s. >> when i first moved to north brookfield, i'll be very frank with you i was practically the only person i knew that was gay >> reporter: times

have changed this weekend this quiet field will be plastered in rainbows as north brookfield holds its first small town pride >> it's been a long time coming to be quite honest with you. >> reporter: but organizers with the rural justice network never thought this tiny town would make national headlines all because their celebration features a drag performance >> we've encountered a lot of hate. >> reporter: anthony also known as naqita lafem is one of the performers what does this hate look like? >> it comes in all different forms, people saying stuff online, threats. >> reporter: amid a nationwide drag backlash in april north brookfield's town board voted to ban the drag show calling it adult entertainment. >> a majority of these shows do include sexual innuendo. >> reporter: the aclu quickly responded, calling that decision unconstitutional with lgbtq groups arguing these shows are not sexually explicit. >> at these small town events they are very tame performances.

it just shows people that it's okay to be themselves >> reporter: the board did reverse course, clearing the way for the show to go on, but the threats remain >> personally i do get scared i think people would understand if you said i'm going to sit this one out. >> that's not in me. i'm a fighter. >> reporter: they know pride is rooted in protest inspired by the 1969 stonewall up rising >> i am not afraid and i will refuse to be afraid >> reporter: a spirit that still echoes across towns big and small. nbc news, north brookfield, massachusetts. >> for more watch "pride 2023 out front" streaming now. that's "nightly news." i'm lester holt. thanks for watching, everyone please take care of yourself and each other.

[cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> kelly: hello, hello! welcome to "the kelly clarkson show," y'all! i know, we usually dive right in with music, here's the thing, my voice is feeling scratchy today. a lot scratchy, i'm just tired, so i didn't want to give you a bad performance. it good news, we actually do pretape just in case like these days happen. if we have a couple special kellyoke's in the vault and we've got an '80s classic i

cannot wait to share. here is me and my band, y'all, with one of my favorite songs from childhood. it chris de burgh's "the lady in red." ♪♪ i've never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight ♪ ♪ i've never seen you shine so bright mm hmmm ♪ ♪ i've never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance ♪ ♪ they're looking for a little romance ♪ ♪ given half a chance ♪ ♪ and i have never seen that dress you're wearing ♪ ♪ or the highlights in your hair that catch your eyes ♪ ♪ i have been blind ♪ ♪ the lady in red is dancing with me ♪

♪ cheek to cheek ♪ ♪ there's nobody here ♪ ♪ it's just you and me ♪ ♪ it's where i want to be ♪ ♪ well i hardly know ♪ ♪ this beauty by my side ♪ ♪ i'll never forget the way you look tonight ♪ ♪ i never will forget the way you look tonight ♪♪

[cheers and applause] >> kelly: all right, one more time, give it up for my band, y'all! "the lady in red" was chris's first mainstream head and worried as he has his wife to thank for that. i love that song since i was a kid, even at the end when he talks like wherever your like, i'm into it. we have a great show for you today and i'm so stoked about this show everybody here is incredible. our first guest is an amazing actor with multiple enemies, 20s, and the words and one genre of a word isn't enough. you might know him best from "breaking bad" or malcolm in the middle and you can also see him now in "new honor." give it up for bryan cranston, everybody! [cheers and applause]

♪ ♪ oh, my gosh, you look so sharp. >> do i? >> i love all of it. >> the color, yeah. this feels like i'm in your living room. >> kelly: that's the point, we want you to be comfortable. i'm not, this is kevin, they have won enemies by our department i would not win for that. it has 2023 going? >> it's going quite well. a speed when you make predictions for yourself or try to set goals? >> i don't want to disappoint myself by breaking resolutions but i've been working a lot for the last 20 some odd years so i wanted to do something that was

a little bit more fun and light and see more of my hometown los angeles more and get to the museums and go -- >> kelly: isn't it funny where you live you never go to any of the things? >> i know people who lived in new york city all their life and they've never been to the statue of liberty average. >> kelly: i know people as well and the sophomore in high school on a trip. how have you not been there? >> we take it for granted, what's available to us at any time. >> kelly: it's cool like 2023, to know that i've got relatives come through. it's so cool to know and see the names. it's nice. you grew up along los angeles and did that influence you to be an actor? >> possibly come on my were actors. >> kelly: that probably influenced you. >> they met doing the "betty white show" many years

ago. and they fell in love, and then they got married and started having kids and there you go. i was born in hollywood, i was raised in the valley. >> kelly: you always knew you wanted to be an actor? >> no, no. acting is a very delicate business. if you don't have the right temperament for it, it can hurt you. we've certainly seen a lot of examples of that where people don't handle it correctly. they are ego gets too big or they get too depressed, too high, too low. you really have to maintain a nice steady foundation and i always tell young actors that that if you want to try this business, get your personal life in order, make that your foundation. >> kelly: that is great advice. >> then you can fly. >> kelly: i wish i had that adviceth